From a Distance
The older I get the more challenging my eyesight. I went to the eye doctor last week for my annual checkup and my prescription needed a slight change. I need corrected vision for seeing at a distance and up close.
I’ve been to concerts in arena’s and sat up close. I’ve also been to events where been way up in the stands. Things looks so different from a distance than they do up close.
Jesus had just been arrested after Judas betrayed Him into the hands of the religious leaders and some hired thugs. All the disciples fled the scene. Check this out….
57 Then the people who had arrested Jesus led him to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of religious law and the elders had gathered.58 Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end. (Matthew 26:57-58 NLT)
Peter catches a lot of criticism, but he’s still following – albeit at a distance. The events of the evening that Jesus was arrested where very chaotic and unsettling. He had followed Jesus for about three years and had seen a lot of unusual events including healings both physical and spiritual. His life would never be the same. Peter wasn’t sure how all of this would end.
I sometime find myself wondering how all of this will end. I wonder how my life will end. After wondering that for a minute, I realize how little control I have over how this life will end or even how long I’ll live here in the land of the dying. I believe God’s Word is true that in the land of the living – eternity – life is forever!
I’m going with what I know until my feelings catch up. When I’m following Jesus up close, I hear Him speak and lead me in the simplest of moments. When I’m following Him at a distance there is a gap in what He’s calling me to be and what I’m hearing Him say. There is a lot of distraction when following at a distance. Following Him up close removes many distractions. I think I have a choice every day to follow up close or follow at a distance. I’m not sure what people think of my faith, but I want to follow Jesus up close. I want to watch what He does. I want to hear everything He says. I want my life to look like His life.
Pressing On!
Dwayne